Evening Post MONDAY JUNE 30, 1879.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 549, 30 June 1879, Page 2

Evening Post MONDAY JUNE 30, 1879.

THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF COMMITTEES. It ifl currently reported — and -we beliey© with some foundation — that Ministers intend tO Shirk *a 6 duty of nominating a Chairman of Committees in the event of Mr. O'Rorke being elected Speaker, and will ask a caucus of their supporters to make the choice. A more extraordinary, and we may add, reprehensible course no Government could well adopt. It ia true, no doubt, that there are among their followers many eager aspirants for'what is undoubtedly a very good billet, and probably each of the aspiring gentlemen thinks his own claims indisputable, and will be offended if the Government fail to look at them in the same light; bat if Minigters are not strong enough to act as they think beat in a matter of this kind they certainly are not strong enough to carry on the government of the country. If they cannot lead and control their own party so as to make their following accept the man they deem best fitted for the office, in the interests of both the House and the party, they certainly are not likely to be able to carry any measure of import-, ance through Parliament. The present Government is, we are sorry tp'flay, rather given to shirking its duties and proper responsibilities. Only recently we have witnessed its surrender of all the functions of Government, including most momentous issues of peace or war to the hands of the settlers at Hawera. Fortunately, owing to the Bound sense and discretion of the settlers, this transfer of power has been unattended by any evil consequences. JNow we find the Government about to abrogate the functions of leading the House in the appointment of a Chairman of its Committees, and delegating them to a party caucus. Such a caucus wonld afford a pretty spectacle. We doubt whether any candidate would be. able to get a proposer and seconder, for each member present would infallibly believe in himself as the man who ought to get the prize. The famous Parliamentary scramble for railways which took place some years ago, on Mr. Gisbornb's invitation, would be nothing to the scramble in caucus for this £400 a-year, and if at last any one candidate should chance to* secure a majority, the discussion would certainly have alienated the support of a sufficient minority to render the ultimate triumph of an opposition candidate a matter of absolute certainty. As it is, Mr. Seymour is certain to be nominated, and he will take a great deal of beating. If the Government wish to escape defeat at the very outset of the session, it should fix on the man it intends to support, and use the brief time remaining in soothing the disappointment of the other claimants. It will be much easier to do this while the claims have not been publicly preferred, and while none of the disappointed ones can be taunted with seeking and failing. Remitting such a matter as this to a caucus is the surest way of creating disunion and dissension in the ranks of the party, and can scarcely fail to render the Government contemptible in the eyes of the House and the country. If, however, Ministers are determined to adopt such a notable device in regard to filling np the Chairmanship of Committees, we should suggest their going & little farther, and putting in the vacant seat on the Ministerial benches as a kind of second prize. They might perhaps induce their party to raffle the two prizes— one to go to the highest and the other to thelowest thrower, ' the winner to take his choice. Of course any sensible man wonld take the Chairmanship for choice, as it wonld be safe for a year, while a seat in a Cabinet which resorts to snob, devices wonld be a very precarious honor, and one the sweets of which wonld not probably be long enjoyed. If Ministers cannot agree amongst themselves, and their inability to do so is unhappily notorious, it is not likely that they will find much unanimity among their supporters.